Suzuki RE5

[Mouse]

I was at a local company doing some repair work today and got talking with the company engineer. He is planning to restore a 75 Suzuki RE5 motorcycle he was given recently. I had never heard of this bike and was surprised to learn that Suzuki built a water cooled Rotary engined motorbike. I have seen photo's (years ago) of the air cooled rotary by Hercules and I knew Norton did a rotary.
The Suzuki is an odd looking thing. Any one ever seen or had experience with the RE5?
D

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

Tell him to start looking for spark plugs. They are difficult to come by and expensive.
There is one local to me that i see a couple times a summer. It has that goofy instrument pod cover that opens and closes.
It does have a unique, throaty exhaust tone.

[daves79x]

First year had funny gauges - second year was conventional. Never a big hit and very fiddly to work on. Not worth a whole lot even when sorted out.

Dave

[EMS]

AMA Vintage Days at Mid-Ohio this year:

[harvey]

Mike, thank you for the photos!

Weren't they called the "water buffalo" ? I guess Suzuki was just trying something .

[mhutton]

Mike, thank you for the photos!

Weren't they called the "water buffalo" ? I guess Suzuki was just trying something .

think that was the GT750 2T triple. AKA the Kettle in the UK.

[Mouse]

Yup, the GT750 was the "Water Buffalo" on this side of the pond. First GT750 I ever saw was on the 401 in Toronto Ontario, very next day saw one on display at the Canadian Transport Museum in Ottawa.
Nice photo Mike, interesting to see three RE5's in one place.
I can't get over how goofy that pod looks, yet someone signed off on it.

[mhutton]

I can't get over how goofy that pod looks, yet someone signed off on it.

remember it was 1973/4...(I can )

[NobleHops]

I was at a local company doing some repair work today and got talking with the company engineer. He is planning to restore a 75 Suzuki RE5 motorcycle he was given recently. I had never heard of this bike and was surprised to learn that Suzuki built a water cooled Rotary engined motorbike. I have seen photo's (years ago) of the air cooled rotary by Hercules and I knew Norton did a rotary.
The Suzuki is an odd looking thing. Any one ever seen or had experience with the RE5?
D

IMO he is in for a world of pain with that project, and he ought to shine it up, put it on a pedestal as a survivor, and leave it there. Restoring one of those makes a CBX look trivial, in terms of knowledge base, parts availability, and aftermaket. Oy.

[wyly]

hey I remember seeing those back in the day, I forgot they were rotary...

I'm feeling very old now

[nicholr]

HA! Great commentary! 20 years ago I bought 3 wrecks and reduced them to two excellent runners. My RE5A (74) has been one of my daily riders for 15 years. It has the Buck rogers gauges and trim. My RE5M (75) was one of the bikes Suzuki reworked with Water Buffalo type gauges, signal lites and tail lite to hopefully attract some show room traffic. Didn't work. Suzuki lost their shirt on these bikes and in the end they pulled the plugged, destroyed all the tooling, parts and jigs and apparently dumped them into the sea (that's the rumour!!). Very complicated bike and EVERYTHING is built 'one of' for this machine. Looks like a GT 750 Le mans but it aint. Spark plug is a one of (I have a bunch), oil filters are a one of (I have a bunch), cdi black box is a one of (a have a few), five cable throttle cable is a one of (I have a few). Ignition trigger points are a one of (I have a few). You think CBX exhaust pipes are rare and expensive? Nawww. It is air, water and oil cooled. Runs REAL hot. It will give a water buffalo a run for it's money but it is 525 lbs heavy and very thirsty (25mpg). But it never fails to create a crowd. Sounds like crap but has a very cool electric like power curve. An acquired taste for sure.

Ron N

[steve murdoch icoa #5322]

Ron, thanks for the first-hand story.

[Mouse]

Ron, you may be a glutton for punishment.
Seriously nice job with the RE5 rebuild.

[nicholr]

Hi guys,
No question you have to be a special kind of disturbed to stay with these bikes. For me it was a test ride on one in the 80's in southern California that hooked me into having one. Few are interested in these things and the techs you encounter who used to 'have to' work on them run away screaming when you ask them questions. A wonderful exercise in reverse engineering for me to deconstruct (and learn them) and then reconstruct and ride them. One more sad line for my tombstone ......" he could make an RE5 run for more than a month at a time!". I'm getting chills just thinking about it. But if anyone wants any help or advice I have the special tools, manuals and a pretty good collection of spares. However I may be culling my herd of it all as I have \other' projects that are crying out for attention. To every thing, there is absolutely a season.

[Mouse]

Hi Ron;
I'll be doing some more work where the guy who has the RE5 works next month. I'll let him know of your offer.
Thanks